I’m a rump theologian at best, but the answers on Twitter are fairly mundane and hardly enlightening.Genuine question for theologians: what is the Christian view of whether someone will go to heaven if they say "I accept Jesus as my lord and savior" at the last minute, but also say they don't actually believe in God?
— derek guy (@dieworkwear) January 13, 2026
My theology and experience say: “No.” That’s not soteriology. IMHTheologicalO, anyway. I’ll admit it is for some. But I won’t admit the validity of that view. Not because I think faith without works is dead (although that’s a crucial point, isn’t it?), but because “salvation” is not a matter of purchase. See Luke 7:36-50. The “love” shown by the woman is erotic love, because she’s seeking a customer (because in 1st century Palestine, a woman without a husband (or a widow not taken up by a husband’s brother) had no means of support except prostitution). You can imagine what’s “in her heart” all you want, but Luke doesn’t tell us. And her actions, to Luke’s audience at least, are straight out of their erotica (yes, erotica is as peculiar and particular as humor). Jesus just tells her “your sins are forgiven.” Nor does he tell her “You’re goin’ to heaven now!” He just tells her “Go in peace.”
What Scott Adam’s professed was a bastardized version of Pascal’s wager: at the last minute, make a small bet that this will help you in the afterlife, if there is one. But don’t completely give up on the idea that God isn’t real, because…c’mon!
A theologian who thinks it works that way, is not really a theologian. As to whether Adam’s “got into heaven,” or not? As I understand that soteriology, God makes those decisions, not me. So who am I to say?
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